Hunter Tips for Malkorok

Malkorok is the 9th boss in Siege of Orgrimmar. He’s got some nasty abilities and is a step up in difficulty from many of the early bosses.

It’s two-phase single target fight (there are a few adds in heroic, but they’re not a big focus).

The fight

During phase one there is constant raid-wide damage, and a shield mechanic similar to Tortos. Any healing taken will go into your shield, not your health bar. Thankfully, you don’t have to shoot a crystal to trigger the shield, it applies automatically. Malkorok uses a few damaging abilities. Seismic Slam does damage in a 5 yard area and shoots players up into the air. Be sure to be spread out so only one person gets hit at a time. Imploding Energy will spawn void pools around the room. After 5 seconds they will explode, doing damage to anyone in them. Each zone must be soaked by at least one player standing in them, or massive shadow damage will be done to all players. My raid splits the room into quadrants and assigns people to each one so everyone knows where they need to soak. Arcing Smash is a cone attack that he will use 3 times during the phase, this can be avoided. 10 seconds after the 3rd Arcing Smash, he’ll use Breath of Y’Shaarj which deals massive damage in the places where the smashes were. Remembering the position of each smash so you know where the safe zones are is very important.

Heroic only – When Malk uses Seismic slam, it causes Living corruption adds to spawn and attack players. These have an aura which reduces the casting and movement speed of those around them. They need to get to the tank so they don’t sabotage the casters. Malkorok will also spawn orbs of corruption continuously throughout phase 1. These persist and if anyone comes into contact with them, their barrier gets removed and they take damage. These can be soaked using cooldowns, but should generally be avoided in this phase.

In phase 2 the Ancient Miasma fades, meaning people no longer have shields and can have their health restored. Malkorok will start using Blood Rage, doing huge amounts of damage split among any players in front of him. In normal, everyone just stacks in front of the boss to split the damage. Displaced Energy is a debuff that will be applied to random players. It deals damage to the player and if it is dispelled (or after 9 seconds) explodes, doing damage to anyone in 8 yards. Because of this, players who get this need to move out of the group. Whether or not you want to dispel is up to your group (I vote no!).

Heroic only – The Displaced Energy debuff also roots the affected player in place. Only tanks (or one Monk tank) should stand in front of the boss to soak the Blood Rage. The rest of the players should stay spread out in their quadrants. At this time, the Essences of Y’Shaarj can be soaked by players with good cooldowns (hunters, shadow priests, paladins) to free up some space.

When the Blood Rage ends, we go back to phase 1.

Talent Recommendations

Level 15 – Crouching Tiger, Hidden ChimeraIn order to soak as many Orbs as possible, the shorter cooldown on Deterrence is good.

Level 90 – Glaive TossNormal is a single-target fight and in heroic the adds aren’t numerous and die quickly.

Tips for the Fight

Deterrence has a ton of uses on this fight. In heroic you can use it to soak the Essences of Y’Shaarj. If you get caught in an Arcing Smash or Breath of Y’Shaarj, Deterrence will keep you alive.

Disengage can help you get out of the bad floor effects, reduce fall damage after a slam, or get to Imploding Energy to soak in time.

Keep an eye on your Barrier level. It will change colour based on how full it is. Use a Healthstone if you’re in the red.

Heroic – Master’s Call is helpful on heroic, it can be used if you’re slowed by an ooze or if you are rooted by Displaced Energy.

Heroic – Help out the raid by Misdirecting the oozes when they spawn. Once they’re on the tank, Multishot every once in a while to help get them down.

Heroic– Get a Druid to Symbiosis you so they can get Deterrence and you can use Dash so you can soak more orbs.

One response to “Hunter Tips for Malkorok”

Just a quick note – this is one of the fights in SoO where it’s probably better to take Spirit Bond instead of Iron Hawk for your lvl45 talent. The constant heal ticks feeding your shield are very helpful.